Touch and Go
by Aamalie
Summary: Sango has a question, and sometimes the answers come easier than expected. Miroku/Sango. Oneshot.


**Author's Note:** This is written for the Secret MiroSanta I hosted on LJ. This particular story is for **Casper-san** who asked for a variety of things, and hopefully I delivered. As my angst!muses abandoned me halfway through my first story, this is supposed to be more of a romantic comedy sort of story, though at some point I think it devolved into plain old fluff. You know. The gratuitous, semi-plotless kind. Hopefully, she will enjoy it regardless!

-

**Touch and Go**

-

It's been a bad day.

Sango hasn't been talking to me. She's angry, or maybe just embarrassed, or perhaps a mixture of both, and is thus not speaking to me. It seems that last night, I made the mistake of choosing a spot in our campsite a bit too close to my favorite companion, and while I slept, managed to find my way to her side.

Completely by accident of course. Make no mistake, I would never be so improper as to do such a thing on purpose.

Mind you, this is (apparently) not the first time that this has happened - a strange fluke of the subconscious mind, I would surmise. In the past, I have merely had the fortune of being the first to wake, allowing me to extract myself from any potential complications. But this morning my luck seems to have failed me.

Sango woke first to find me sleeping close by her side. Sadly, it didn't help matters at all that my hand had found its was to my favorite spot on her anatomy, and without any conscious prompting either! Sango found herself rather displeased with the whole arrangement and (unfortunately) found it appropriate to slap me into wakefulness.

As soon as I was oriented enough to understand what had happened, I did my best to apologize and assure Sango it truly had been an accident and her accusations of intentional impropriety were misplaced. And then Inuyasha had to go and open his big mouth.

"What the big deal, Sango? It's not like he's never done it before."

She made a sort of choking noise then, and her face flushed with surprise and disbelief. "Before?" she repeated, stunned and glaring. "You've done this _before,_ Houshi-sama?"

"Sango," I began, suddenly feeling quite desperate, "I believe I can explain−!"

She slapped me then, harder than she has for a long while, and then told me not to come within reaching distance of her again for the rest of the day unless I wanted to be thrown like Hiraikotsu, which I didn't then and don't know.

She's ignoring me since then too.

Like I said, it's been a bad day.

"Hey Miroku!" I break out of my thoughts just in time to see Shippou leap towards me from Kagome-sama's shoulder. I catch him easily, and he scrambles to my shoulder.

"What is it?" I ask, looking up at him as I continue walking.

He scratches his nose, scrunching it up a little as he does so. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead." What could it hurt?

"Why do you like grabbing girls' butts so much?"

I raise an eyebrow, not having expected a question anywhere along those lines. I see Kagome-sama glance over her shoulder, surprised and clearly a little interested, and Inuyasha snorts audibly. Sango, walking beside Kagome-sama, makes no apparent reaction, though I am fairly certain she heard quite clearly. Interesting.

"Ah, Shippou. The answers to that question are so nuanced I wonder if I could ever manage to convey such things appropriately."

"Since when has 'appropriate' ever mattered to you?" Inuyasha scoffs up ahead. (He really can't keep his mouth shut today. It's beginning to grow irksome.) Neither of the girls say a word, and I can tell Shippou still expects a real answer.

I sigh, thinking. This is most inconvenient, for while I don't mind the question itself the timing is quite inconvenient. Yet, I suppose I could have a little bit of fun with it. It is just a matter of saying it in a way that Shippou will understand and Sango will not take more offense at. Perhaps that is easier said than done, but when between a rock and a hard place...

"Well, Shippou, is there a reason that you enjoy playing games?"

"Yeah!" he exclaims, almost surprised that I have to ask. "It's fun! Wait… you don't mean groping is _fun?"_

At this point, Kagome-sama turns to give me a very pointed glare - a sort of 'don't you dare put any ideas into his head!' look. I smile calmly. "Yes, Shippou. It is for me."

He shakes his head, incredulous. "But you always get hit for it. How is _that_ fun? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Yes," I sigh, sending sending Sango's enticing rear a woeful look. "Very much so. Even so, one learns quickly in the world that some things are very much worth the consequences in the end." Sango still does not react. Then again, as she is walking in front of me, I can only see her back. For all that I know, she may be amused, or maybe agitated, by now. Hm...

Shippou isn't done yet.

"What makes it worth it then?" he asks, clearly skeptical.

Ah! I definitely know the answer to _that._ My face breaks into a wide grin.

"There are several things that make touching a woman so advantageous," I begin, settling in for a conversation on the finer things in life. Still, I suppose it is best to speak carefully, for my audience is not an easy one. "For example, there are many ways to learn the nature of a woman. You might pursue her, or inquire after her, or spend many hours talking with her. However, with just one touch, a single, lingering caress, you can learn much about her character in a moment that might otherwise take many days to discover."

"And when you keep grabbing her after she smacks you, what does that say about your character?" Inuyasha interrupted, glancing back at me with a bland, unimpressed sort of look.

"I've always considered persistence a virtue," I counter quickly.

Shippou snickers. "I didn't think you had any of those."

"You did ask," I remind him.

He sighs and scrunches up his nose thoughtfully. "I think I'd be better off if I hadn't."

-

It was growing late in the afternoon, when the sun was beginning its final descent towards the horizon and it was nearly time to find a defensible place to settle for the night, when Sango slowed her pace. The others drew on ahead, and she fell into step beside me when I caught up. Inwardly, I smiled and waited for her to breach the silence first.

"You enjoy games, don't you Houshi-sama?"

I quirk an eyebrow, curious as to where Sango is headed with this. "Do I leave that impression?"

Her mouth twitches, perhaps with the hint of a smile, or maybe exasperation. "Sometimes, I'm not sure if you are being serious, or just joking again. But I think that maybe you like it that way."

"I hope I haven't caused you any undue hardship," I tell her, and she cuts me a sharp glance.

"Just curiosity," she returns after a moment, evenly, not rising to my bait.

"You're curious about something, Sango?"

She shifts, hitching her Hiraikotsu to a more comfortable place on her shoulder, a sign she is either thinking hard or uncomfortable or both, and nods. "Occasionally I think, Houshi-sama is good with words," she observed, "but he doesn't always say what he actually means. Then, I wonder what he is really thinking."

"It couldn't hurt to ask him," I suggest with a smirk.

"No," she agrees, "but would he answer honestly?"

I pause before answering, my gait slowing a little. Just what does she have in mind? There are many things Sango may want honesty from me about, but there are also many things that I find difficult to put words to. This is a failing, and less surmountable than it should be. But I can try, at least.

"Well, I suppose it would depend on the question, wouldn't it?"

(Maybe I should try a little less hard.)

She makes a small, almost sardonic sound of amusement in the back of her throat, and then purses her lips for a moment. "That would be true, but I hope it's not something you would lie about."

I sense her hesitation, and feel some of my own. Still, she is no longer angry with me over this morning, and neither is she upset that I am evading what she is attempting to ask. That, at least, is something to consider against the pull and draw of my own sense of self-preservation.

"Go on," I press.

"Earlier, you were saying things about women and touching and flirting. Silly things, or so I thought at first," she explains.

"And you changed your mind about this?" I ask.

"I wondered what you meant, when you said that that you can know more about a woman by how she reacts to you," Sango says, staring fixedly on the ground before her feet. "I wondered what you thought of me."

So that was it.

I slow and draw to a stop, and she does to. I regard her thoughtfully, taking my time to answer because that's not the sort of question for which any glib response will do. She seems to understand, and waits, steady and shy all at once.

What do I think of Sango? It is a hard question, because I think many things of her. This is because she is neither simple nor ordinary, but something else entirely.

Sango is strong. She has faced many things in a very short time, but the fires that have forged her tragedy have made her sharp and indomitable, like the blade of a katana wielded by a hand that knows it well. Her heart is good, and so her strength is used well, and because of this I can trust her like none other.

Still, she is also sad, and Sango's sorrow is the weakness in her armor, the gap in the walls she has built that I can somehow slip through to bring her solace when she needs it. She lets me in, and lets me be the one to help her smile again.

She is loyal. To her village's legacy, to Kohaku, to those she cares for, and it is a mark of her honor that she does not give up. As she fights for her family and her vengeance now, so I imagine Sango would fight for the family we would make together, should that day come.

Sango can also be unpredictable. Sometimes she is shy, but there is also boldness, a confidence she wouldn't be Sango without.

Her jealousy, on the other hand, is very predictable, but also very much Sango. It is sometimes trying, but I daresay I'll make it through.

After all, Sango is also beautiful. There is a quality in her that surpasses simple attraction or admiration in me. It is part of what makes her so different, and causes to stand out from all of the rest of the pretty women I've encountered over the years. I have dreamed of a life beyond the Kazaana for many years, and considered the thought of a lovely wife, but Sango is the first that I hope to grow old with.

She is many more things, but she is also waiting for my answer.

I fear it will not suffice.

Still, I reach forward and take her free hand, tracing her fingers with my palm, and smile. "You, Sango, are special," I say, simply.

She frowns a little, tilting her head back to see me more fully. "You've said that before," she reminds me.

"Yes," I chuckle, and then say a little more than I was intending to. "But it's true."

Understanding dawns in Sango's eyes, followed by satisfaction and maybe even pleasure. Her fingers tighten against mine briefly, and she tugs me a little closer as she begins to walk again. Seeing my expression, she smiles a little. "We're falling behind," Sango explains, nodding towards where our friends are dawdling ahead.

"Like this?" I inquire, lifting our intertwined hands pointedly.

She winks, surprising me, and shrugs her shoulders. "With hands like yours, Houshi-sama? It's better than the alternative."

"Fair enough," I concede, because with a woman like Sango, sometimes admitting defeat is the best option.

-

_Written & Posted December 31, 2009._


End file.
